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Realizing the Dream: Equality for All – Law Day 2013 Planning Guide, Video Now Available

By Daniel Buchanan

The 2013 Law Day Guide is now available to help law firms, bar associations, schools and community organizations plan a memorable event to mark the nation’s commitment to the rule of law.

For the first time, the guide is available for download to an iPad. It has talking points, programming ideas, publicity ideas, resources and lesson plans for every grade level.

On May 1, 2013, the nation will mark Law Day with a theme titled, “Realizing the Dream: Equality for All.” The year will mark the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, which President Abraham Lincoln issued during the third year of the Civil War. It declared that all persons held as slaves would be free.

In 1963, during the Proclamation’s centennial, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stood in front of the Lincoln Memorial and called upon our nation to live up to the great promise, enshrined in its founding documents, of equality for all.

Law Day in 2013 will provide an opportunity to explore the movement for civil and human rights in America and the impact it has had in promoting the ideal of equality under the law. It will provide a forum for reflecting on the work that remains to be done in rectifying injustice, eliminating all forms of discrimination, and putting an end to human trafficking and other violations of our basic human rights.

Recently, while sitting at Lincoln Cottage, American Bar Association President Laurel Bellows said, “As we reflect on this year’s Law Day, let us work together to achieve the aspirations so eloquently expressed by Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King.”

She added, “Let us unite and commit ourselves to assuring that all citizens of this great country have the opportunity to ‘realize the dream’ of liberty and equality.”